Getting Into Good Trouble at School: A Guide to Building an Antiracist School System

Turn the promise of equitable education into reality. This is your guidebook for building an antiracist school. Written by two education leaders with very different life experiences, Getting into Good Trouble At School provides the context, empowerment, and concrete actions needed to dismantle racist policies and practices that for decades have kept students of color from experiencing the same success as their white counterparts. The journeys of Gregory Hutchings and Douglas Reed – which include systemic racism and white privilege - provide a unique model superintendents, principals, school board members and other educators can use to reimagine educational equity, actively dismantle institutional racism, and implement strategic, methodical policies that benefit the entire school community. In this book you’ll find A detailed case study of antiracist educational transformation What it really means to commit to racial equity Guidance for dismantling tracking and in-school segregation Positive, equitable alternatives to typical disciplinary practices Six steps to building an antiracist school system Racism isn’t always intentional. Antiracism, on the other hand, must be. Now antiracist education leaders can put their intentions into action—and grant the promise of an equitable and culturally rich education to all students.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Pedro A. Noguera Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Chapter 1. ReImagining the Titans Chapter 2. Know Your History to Rewrite Your Future Chapter 3. Commit to Racial Equity Chapter 4. Dismantling Tracking and Within-School Segregation Chapter 5. Making School Discipline Different From Policing Chapter 6. Implement Strategic Thinking and Strategic Planning Chapter 7. Choose Good Trouble: Be a Bold and Courageous Antiracist School Leader Chapter 8. Conclusion Appendix References

About the Author :
Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. is a nationally recognized educational leader, antiracism activist, and adjunct professor who unapologetically advocates for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and racial equity. He has over twenty years of combined educational experience as a teacher, school principal, central office administrator, superintendent, and college professor. Dr. Hutchings is the chief executive officer and founder of an educational consulting firm, Revolutionary Ed, LL C. His life’s work is educational service and dismantling systemic racism in schools across America. Dr. Hutchings was the 2018 recipient of the Joseph E. Hill Superintendent of the Year Award with the National Alliance of Black School Educators. Dr. Hutchings earned his doctorate in educational policy, planning, and leadership from the College of William & Mary. He currently serves on numerous national boards and is an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. Dr. Hutchings is a native of Alexandria, Virginia, where he currently serves as the superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools and resides with his wife and their two children. Douglas S. Reed is a Professor of Government at Georgetown University, where he is the founding director of the MA Program in Educational Transformation. His research interests center on the politics of education, educational policymaking, federalism, and judicial politics. His current work focuses on legal notions of race, equality, and colorblindness and how educational policy can improve student outcomes by directly addressing the racial contexts and experiences of students. He is the author of Building the Federal Schoolhouse: Localism and the American Education State (Oxford University Press, 2014) and On Equal Terms: The Constitutional Politics of Educational Opportunity (Princeton University Press, 2001). He has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an Advanced Studies Fellow at Brown University, and was named a Carnegie Scholar by the Carnegie Corporation as well as a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow. He earned his PhD from Yale University.

Review :
Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. and Douglas S. Reed have produced a thoughtful, important, and timely book. It is essential reading for school leaders who value racial equity enough to put it into practice and for policymakers and advocates as well. Getting Into Good Trouble at School is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of American education. Drs. Hutchings and Reed identify six essential steps. If absorbed and applied, these steps will serve as waypoints in the pursuit of critical change supporting all students in constructing an antiracist school system. This book is a powerful and thoughtful analysis of the enduring impact of institutional racism upon American education. Hutchings and Reed combine deeply personal reflections and anecdotal narratives about how racism has impacted minority students. The book is a strong endorsement for using strategic planning and the continuous improvement process to build a transformed system that is aligned, mission- and vision-driven, culturally responsive, and personalized. This is a book that every educator and every parent should read. It is clear, comprehensive, and tells the unsettling truth about racism in public schools in America. It lays out specific steps to once and for all dismantle the racism that continues to plague our society and deny BIPOC children their right to an equitable education. Hutchings and Reed offer a direct approach to confronting systems of racism. Through sharing personal experiences, a deep knowledge of the existing literature, and data informed practices, the authors offer a call to action that requires assessing current practices, establishing an intentional strategic plan, and being courageous enough to implement the plan. Here, finally, are authors with the courage to lay out concrete steps school leaders can take to encourage antiracist schools to grow and thrive. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. and Douglas S. Reed offer six steps to dismantle systemic racism in American schools while getting into "good trouble" to help Americans live out the full meaning of "all men (and women) are created equal. This courageous text provides testimonies of lived experiences interwoven against a historical backdrop of the impact of racism on our educational system. It takes the reader on a journey to understand how to advance an equity lens and become an antiracist educator. The authors artfully challenge the status quo while the guided questions force you to reflect and act. As educators are doubling down on efforts to reimagine student- centered, forward-leaning public education, Getting Into Good Trouble at School points out why it’s essential to boldly advocate for the vast number of U.S. children who should be receiving the services that they are entitled to. I congratulate the authors for casting a shining light on the principles of educational equity and social justice.